


Day 4: Nutcracker

by BluePlanetTrash



Series: Merry Langstmas (12 Days of Christmas) [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Merry Langstmas, Soldier Homecoming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-16
Updated: 2018-01-16
Packaged: 2019-03-05 19:06:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13394289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BluePlanetTrash/pseuds/BluePlanetTrash
Summary: The last thing that Shiro left before going overseas was a blue nutcracker that Lance kept in his kitchen everyday of the year. It's been so long since he last saw his fiancé and now his friends were presenting him with a huge present that sat in the middle of the living room. He never saw it coming.





	Day 4: Nutcracker

When Takashi gave Lance the ugly little nutcracker, he thought that he was joking.

“Haha, what the hell is this?” He asked with a giggle as he lifted the top of the box off, revealing a blue nutcracker. He looked up at Takashi with a small smile.

“It’s for Christmas, since I won’t be here and all,” he said sadly, rubbing the back of his neck. Lance sighed and stood in front of the soldier and took his face in his hands.

“Takashi, it’s okay,” he said when Takashi sniffed slightly and directed his gaze towards the floor. He pulled his head towards him and lightly kissed his forehead with a smile. He pulled back and met Takashi’s eyes. Takashi reached out and dragged the box closer to them.

“You should really look at this nutcracker though,” he encouraged. Lance quirked a brow but decided to humour him and picked it up. His eyes widened at the box laying underneath it. Takashi picked it up with slightly trembling hands and slid to the ground in front of Lance on one knee. Lance gasped and covered his mouth with his hands as tears started welling up in his eyes.

“I don’t want to leave without having any regrets, you are the most important person in the world to me. Lance McClain, will you marry me?” Takashi asked him, voice quivering in nervousness. He looked up, trying to gauge his reaction and saw tears rolling down his boyfriend’s cheeks.

“Well?” He prompted after a few moments of silence. Lance launched himself at Takashi, wrapping his arms around his chest and burying his face in the crock of his neck with a sob.

“Yes, of course, I will,” he said, pulling back with a gasp. Takashi smiled and held Lance’s cheek in his palm, brushing away the stray tears with his thumb. Then he gently took Lance’s left hand and slid the tungsten ring on his finger, before bringing the hand to his mouth to press a kiss to it. Lance let out another happy sob and pulled Takashi into a kiss.

“I love you so much,” Lance whispered pressing their foreheads together. Tears streaked down his face, neither of them could care less though as they basked in the light of the new journey that they were about to take together.

Well, it would have to wait for now. Takashi was to be deployed overseas for the next year and a half, missing the next two Christmases at home. Lance understood though, this job was Takashi’s life and being deployed was part of being a soldier.

“Oh my God, I have to call Hunk,” Lance laughed after he pulled away from Takashi slightly. Takashi chuckled but got up and held out a hand for his now fiancé to take, easily hauling him up with the one arm. Lance smiled and kissed his cheek before turning and grabbing the phone from the counter. Takashi came up behind him and wrapped his arms around Lance from behind and rested his head on his shoulder.

“Hey Lance, whats up?” Hunk’s cheerful voice came through the phone. Lance laughed a little still tearing up slightly.

“Lance? Are you alright? Did something happen?” His voice turned worried.

“Something did happen,” he said with a smile, nuzzling his cheek into Takashi’s.

“What? Is it bad? Did something bad happen?” He wasn’t sure why Lance wasn’t telling him anything but he could hear the emotion in his voice.

“Why aren’t you saying anything? What? What happened?” He rambled.

“Hunk,” Lance breathed out trying to calm his friend down.

“I’m getting married,” he said happily with a giggle.

Absolute silence greeted him from the other side. He furrowed his brows in confusion and looked over to Takashi.

“Oh my god!” Hunk screamed into the phone. Lance flinched and pulled the phone away from his ear. He tried to calm his best friend down but hung up a few minutes later with the news that Hunk was heading over immediately.

“Well, Hunk seems excited,” Takashi laughed squeezing Lance slightly. Lance nodded and leaned back into the embrace, happiness making him feel lighter than air.

“I’m going to wait until tomorrow to tell everyone else, I don’t think I can happen everyone rushing down here tonight,” he sighed looking up at him.

“Agreed,”

It only took Hunk ten minutes to arrive on their doorstep when it would have usually taken him twenty. He was sweating, and tears were rushing down his face, even though he had an almost jaw breaking smile on his face. He gathered the two of them in a hug and lifted them off of the ground all the while crying for his friends.

* * *

The relationship between after Takashi was sent overseas was just as loving as while they were at home. They spent a lot of time video calling one another and actually sent letters to each other every once in a while. Although wedding planning was quite hard to do when you were discussing it over a Skype call. They found themselves having fun even when they couldn’t meet with the planner together or share their ideas right away.

December grew closer and closer that year and it was hard for Lance, since he knew that Takashi was most likely going to miss the next two celebrations. He looked through their decorations and remembered the homely little nutcracker that stayed in the box under the counter, forgotten after his proposal.

He carefully lifted it out of the box and placed it on the windowsill in the kitchen, where he and everyone who came into the house would be able to see it. The more he looked at it, the more he fell in love with it. Even if it was the ugliest thing he’s ever seen. He was right when he said that he would always be able to see it though, whenever he looked at it, he would remember the night that he got engaged.

That Christmas was a bit emotional for him, he didn’t have anyone to wake up with on Christmas morning. He did have all of their friends over that night for a Christmas dinner though.

“What the hell is that thing?” Pidge asked pointing to the nutcracker on the windowsill.

“It’s my nutcracker, Takashi gave it to me before he proposed,” he said fondly as he mashed potatoes on the stove.

“It’s seriously ugly Lance,” Keith said walking over to examine it.

“Well, I could say the same about your mullet but I’m actually polite,” he huffed sticking up his nose. Keith gasped dramatically and marched over to where he set his (admittedly really good) stuffing and hugged the dish to his chest.

“You get nothing this year McClain,”

“This is my house, Keith!”

Even after the holidays were over and it was time to pack everything up for next year. He looked over at the nutcracker and couldn’t bring himself to put it away until next year. So he didn’t.

“Did you miss this when you were packing everything up?” Hunk asked when Lance had him over. He was holding the blue nutcraker in and turning it around in hand.

“No, I couldn’t put it away,” Lance admitted with a blush.

“Why not?”

“It’s special, it was one of the last things that Takashi gave me before he went overseas and I didn’t want to put it away,” he said rubbing the back of his neck before looking up at Hunk. He blushed darker at the grin that Hunk was giving him.

“That’s way too cute Lance,”

“Shut up, plus it goes with the kitchen anyway,” he said gesturing at the blue paint that covered the walls. Hunk only shrugged and didn’t say anything else about it the rest of the night, although the grin stayed strong the entire time.

* * *

Sometimes things got hard for him. When his work got too tiring or it started feeling like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. He couldn’t exactly curl up beside his fiancé and expect things to go away for a while, and sometimes he couldn’t even call Takashi because it would be too late or too early over there. Whenever he looked over and saw the nutcracker he would remember Takashi and remember how strong he always was.

He would hold the nutcracker tightly when he started missing his soldier, tears rolling down his cheeks and onto the painted wood. When he started feeling lonely in their house and there was no one to play with his hair until he fell asleep, or to hug him when he felt sad. Or when he found out that Takashi wouldn’t be able to contact him for the rest of his tour.

“I’m so sorry love,” he said softly. Lance could tell that he was just as upset at the news and tears were welling up in his eyes.

“Baby, I understand,” he replied just as softly. “Don’t worry, soon you’ll be back home and we’ll get married, so don’t get hung up over little things like this,” he said even as tears rolled down his face.

Takashi looked heartbroken at the state that Lance was in but sniffed and nodded his head.

“You’re right, you’re right,” he said shaking his head slightly. “I can’t wait to come home and see you, I can’t wait to get married, I love you so much,”

“I love you too,” he smiled. Takashi looked like he was about to say something else before someone knocked on his door. He got out of the camera’s range and Lance could hear mumbled conversation before Takashi came back over but didn’t sit down, he had a grimace on his face.

“I have to go, love, I’ll see you soon, okay?”

“Oh, okay, I love you, baby,”

“I love you too,”

Lance was a wreak that night. Crying himself to sleep and rolling around the entire night. He could only thank the stars that the next day was Saturday and he could lay in bed the entire day without anyone knowing. The months without contact with Takashi were some of the worst that he’s had. He started going out more with his friends just so he didn’t feel as lonely in his house. The nutcracker became a constant comfort to him, the little soldier reminding him to stay strong for his fiancé. He was the one fighting and Lance had to welcome him back with open arms. He was glad that Takashi had Allura, Matt, and Coran over there with him. After he realized that, it became easier as the months slipped by and Christmas was approaching again. When Christmas was over, it would only be a couple of months before Takashi would be back at home.

* * *

It was easier to hang up the decoration and make plans for him and his friends for the holidays. On Christmas Eve, it hurt that he couldn’t call Takashi and wish him a Merry Christmas but he could understand too. He just wished that they would break radio silence for a brief two-minute call. Not even just for him, for all the people that had a member of their family overseas. He wiped his eyes as tears welled up again. He didn’t have time for that right now. They decided that they would have Christmas dinner at Hunk’s place that year since he and Shay had moved from their apartment to a house earlier that year.

He loaded up his presents for everyone and started his drive over. He cheerfully sang Christmas songs the whole way over and arrived with a kick to the door since his hands were full of presents. When he got inside, the presents were immediately snatched from him and he was pulled into a hug by Hunk and right after by Shay.

“Hey, guys!” He said cheerfully. He noticed that Keith and Pidge were carrying his presents into the living room. He looked around the kitchen and noticed that all the food was still in the process of being cooked.

“Just wanted to make sure that everything was fresh,” Hunk smiled when he looked the confused expression on Lance’s face.

“Yeah, sorry I didn’t bring anything,” he said sheepishly.

“I told you not to worry about it, I wanted to cook,” Hunk said exasperatedly. Lance had asked him everytime they talked if he was sure that he didn’t want him to bring anything.

“I know, but my mamá always said to never show up empty handed to somebody’s house,” he defended crossing his arms.

“Well, you came in with presents,” Shay cut in with a grin.

“You know I can’t argue with you,” Lance pouted looking at Shay.

“And you shouldn’t think of it either, and speaking of presents, since the food’s not ready we could start by opening presents instead,” Hunk suggested looking between Lance and Shay. They glanced at each other and shrugged their shoulders and followed Hunk to the living room where Keith and Pidge were playing a game on the living room’s TV. They turned around when they heard the three of them entering the room.

“Oh my God, I wonder which one is mine,” he laughed as he walked through the doorway and saw a large box wrapped in blue nutcracker wrapping paper. He glanced around and saw that everyone had huge smiles on their faces and were laughing slightly at his reaction. Hunk pushed him towards the box.

“We all split on it, so you open first,” he said still grinning like a maniac. Lance huffed but stood in front of the box. It came up to about his waist.

“You guys have to stop making fun of my nutcracker eventually,” he said as he inspected the box. “There better be a fucking dog in here or something,”

He tore the paper off of the top of the box and started to pull the lids up when something burst out. He came face to chest with someone that stood up in the box. A very, very, familiar chest. He looked up and saw Takashi’s smile looking back at him. He let out a loud scream and stumbled forward, wrapping his arms around Takashi’s chest. Sobs poured out of his mouth as Takashi’s arm wrapped around his back and he pressed kisses into his hair. He allowed himself to be moved as Takashi stepped out of the box and pulled Lance closer to his chest.

“Oh my god you’re here, I can’t believe you’re here,” Lance blubbered into his uniform.

“I’m here, it’s okay, I’m here,” he chanted back to him, rubbing his back and nuzzling into his hair. He couldn’t stop bawling even as Takashi’s arm kept him firmly pressed into his chest in comfort.

He stepped back slightly and looked into Takashi’s face. There was a scar travelling over the bridge of his nose. It was reddish pink and raised slightly, meaning that it was fairly new. Under this new observation, Takashi looked fairly nervous and stepped slightly back away from Lance.

“I’ll understand if you want to leave me Lance, now that I’m like this,” he started with a small choke. What? He didn’t understand, it was just a scar, everyone has scars. Everything was the same, same night black hair and dark grey eyes. He was about to voice his confusion when he took all of him in. The right sleeve of his uniform was folded up and pinned. His arm was gone. He gasped and his hands flew over his mouth. He saw Takashi flinch slightly and wished that he could have taken the action back.

“Yeah, I expected that,” he said sadly. “I’m so sorry that I look like this now,”

“What? No, Takashi I don’t care about that!” He cried, walking forward with tears rolling down his cheeks. He clutched a handful of his uniform in his hand and leaned his forehead on his chest. “You’re home, that’s all that matters,”

He could feel the moment when Takashi broke down. His chest heaved slightly and he pulled Lance as close as he could before burying his face in Lance’s hair. He couldn’t have cared less about water that was soaking his head. He had his soldier back with him and that was all that mattered.

**Author's Note:**

> Come visit me at my Tumblr too!: https://blueplanettrash.tumblr.com/


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